


the chaos that discord breeds

by remi_wolf



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Animal Death, Battle, Battle of Enbarr (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Broken Bones, Duscar soldiers, Enbarr (Fire Emblem), Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Gen, Minor Character Death, War, What if the Battle of Enbarr was actually an entire failure, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26887192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: Deep in the Battle of Enbarr, Dedue knows that they're in a bad situation. He and his men are entirely exhausted, and facing the long slog to the palace. When Dedue hears the cry of a friend in need, he sends his men ahead, ignoring the danger that going alone to help will bring.Whumptober Day 7: I've Got You. Prompt: Support, Carrying
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert & Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, Remi's Whumptober Collection for 2020, Whumptober 2020





	the chaos that discord breeds

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, a bit of a play on the support system in fremblem. Just something short and simple in a timeline where Everything Goes Wrong in the end. I love Ashe and Dedue together, so I figured this could be interesting to write. Hopefully you all enjoy it.

While all of the battles to this point had been chaotic, nothing held a candle to the chaos that Dedue found himself in now. While the remains of the Duscar soldiers behind him helped to keep him steady and upright in the chaos, gauntlets gripped tight in his hands, that didn’t mean that he could truly understand what was going on. Enbarr had never been intended as a capital where fights and wars were had. The canals made it difficult to traverse from one section of the city to another, and the streets were too narrow for most of the large weapons and siege devices that the Kingdom had attempted to bring with them as they made it here to the capital. What made it even worse were the tall buildings, obscuring the view between most of the Kingdom’s forces. Horses mixed with people and troops, and while they had tried to send word ahead to get the common folk out, he could see eyes and faces occasionally peek out of windows, only to hide away when stray arrows or spells grew too close, and once he had seen a young boy running from one alleyway to another tumble when a spell caught his shoulder. 

He didn’t have time to stop to check in on him. 

They didn’t have nearly the time they needed to make sure the common folk were safe.

It felt as though they were no closer to the Palace than they had been, despite fighting the better part of the morning already, and Dedue’s chest heaved with the breaths as he paused. He didn’t know how much longer the Kingdom could last, not unless they got a break where they could skip over a good number of these troops. Byleth was a miracle worker, but that didn’t mean that they could help them achieve the impossible. That would take a god, and Dedue knew those had long-since abandoned the country and the world. 

“Vulnerary?”

Dedue huffed a grunt, shaking his head before standing straighter and nodding. “We must keep moving. His Highness will be expecting us to keep the rear of our forces. We cannot abandon them.” He looked at the soldiers alongside him, all familiar in their Duscar dress, standing proud with Dimitri’s open acceptance and recent forgiveness for the Tragedy of Duscar. No one would know what actually happened, but it wasn’t Duscar’s fault. One of the older men clapped Dedue on the shoulder, and offered him a tight smile. 

“We’re almost there. Just up the hill. We’ll get them on the retreat soon enough.”

Dedue didn’t know about that, but he nodded regardless, starting back up the climb as he turned the corner and started. At least this street was clearer, letting them pass quickly through the area. It was a relief to not have to fight their way through yet another avenue, pressed too close to the houses of commoners who never asked for a war like this to happen, didn’t want any war to happen. He opened his mouth to shout a command to keep moving, to find Dimitri and his troops quickly, when he heard a cry of pain

Ashe. 

He knew that cry, remembered hearing it countless times, and it hurt his soul just as much as it had the first time he heard it. He glanced back at his soldiers before nodding towards the palace. “Keep moving towards Dimitri. I’m going to assist Ashe.”

“Sir?”

“Please, I’ll be fine. Go act as reinforcements for His Highness.” Dedue waved them off before running down the side alleyway, where he heard the cry originating. The sound of steel against steel quickly became obvious, as were the shrieks of horses and men too scared to know what to do. Dedue forced his legs to run faster, even if his body was swiftly growing too exhausted to continue. He’d collapse soon, if he wasn’t careful. 

But he quickly made it to the next avenue. His eyes widened at the sight of the carnage, so close to the peace of the street he had left his men. He didn’t even get a moment to gather his bearings when he caught a lance coming at his side. His body moved before he realized what happened, and he growled as he batted the lance aside before punching the man in the face. Bloody spittle went flying, and the man dropped his lance before dropping to the ground. 

“Ashe!” Dedue looked around wildly, trying to find the smaller man and figure out where he had ended up. Ash was normally so noticeable, a bright spot in the chaos. With his silver hair and silver horse, Dedue never had this much issue finding him—until now, it seemed, sending a cold spike of fear into his stomach.

An axe came at his side, interrupting his search again, and he dispatched that soldier as well, trying not to let himself grow too conflicted over it. He couldn’t afford to grow concerned over whether that man had a family, whether his wife and children would be able to have enough to eat when the fighting stopped and the dust settled to the ground. He could have stayed out of this war if he didn’t want to hurt anyone. He hadn’t, though, and he forced himself to remember that as another soldier attacked him with a sword, and he heard the snapping of the metal as his gauntlets broke with that impact. 

“Dedue!”

Through the chaos, through the miasma and terror, Dedue looked over his shoulder, finally seeing the familiar horse. Impaled by a lance, it seemed to be moving, but Dedue quickly realized that was Ashe, pinned underneath the dead creature. His troops kept fighting, clearly trying to protect him, and Dedue ran towards him. 

“How long have you been trapped?”

“Only a few minutes, I promise. I should be fine, I just need to get out from under her,” Ashe replied, though his voice sounded far weaker than his condition would imply. Dedue frowned, wondering what he was hiding, before pushing at the animal and pulling at Ashe to try and get him free. 

“Reinforcements!”

Dedue looked up, watching as Empire soldiers spilled into the street. He never should have told his troops to go on ahead to Dimitri, but he couldn’t exactly do anything about that now. They were off on their own, and as he glanced over his shoulder at Ashe’s troops, he could see that they were swiftly getting picked off as well, especially with the addition of the spellcasters and fresh troops. Where had they even come from?

“You should leave, Dedue. Dimitri’s going to expect you, and I don’t know if the Professor will be able to—”

“Not without you, alright?” Dedue frowned as he looked at Ashe before finally pulling him entirely free. “I’m not leaving without you, Ashe.”

“I can’t walk, Dedue!”

Dedue frowned as he looked over Ashe before seeing the unnatural twist and angle to his legs. That made sense. It made too much sense. Of course the horse would have broken Ashe’s legs as she landed on him. “I’ll carry you, alright? We just have to get somewhere safe. I can bandage your injuries and then join him later.”

“Dedue, you know these aren’t injuries that can just be bandaged..."

Dedue frowned as he looked at Ashe before pulling him into his arms, ignoring the cry of pain from his friend. Hopefully the chaos of the remaining soldiers would help to hide the two of them as he ran. Hopefully he could get Ashe somewhere safe. Anywhere, even if it was a burnt-out husk of a house that should have been abandoned ages ago.


End file.
